Pukke and College Rovers Reach SAA National Club Champs Final

Pukke and College Rovers will meet in the final of this year’s SAA National Club Champs after both sides recorded hard-fought semifinal victories at the Danie Craven Stadium on Thursday.

It is the second time in three years that the KZN and Leopards champions will play in the final – their last meeting in 2006 saw the North West University students beat the Durban team 33-21 to claim the title.

Pukke reached the final with a nailbiting 23-20 victory over hosts and defending champions Maties, while Rovers beat Brakpan 23-15 in a tense first semifinal. Rovers will now look to become the first team from KZN to win the national title since fellow Durban side Crusaders in 1994.

In the Plate semifinals played earlier, SK Walmers reached Saturday’s final with an outstanding 80-0 win over Despatch, while SWD champions Bridgton beat Mpumalanga’s Nelspruit 27-21.

Boland’s Nova Wesbank club won the Bowl after a 34-22 victory over Barbarians.

Saturday fixtures: 11am Plate final – SK Walmers v Bridgton; 1pm Premier final – Pukke v College Rovers.

Brakpan (3) 15 College Rovers (10) 23

As they did against Tukkies, Rovers opened up a 13-0 lead before allowing the opposition to claw their way back into a game they should have been shut out of by halftime.

Flyhalf Andrew Borgen opened the scoring with a penalty in the 11th minute as Rovers’ backs had Brakpan at sixes and sevens and their loose forwards laid siege on the breakdowns.

With fullback Chris Jordaan and centre Riaan Swanepoel – both of them Sharks players – stamping their authority on the match, Brakpan somehow held out for most of the first half. But the dam wall had to break sometime, and when it did, it was flanker Justin Downey who rounded off an excellent try started by the forwards and created by Borgen’s crisp distribution. The conversion made it 10-0 before Borgen was again on hand to kick a penalty and threaten a runaway victory for Rovers.

Brakpan eventually got onto the scoreboard on the stroke of halftime when fullback Willem Slabbert kicked a penalty to cut the deficit to 10 points.

The Valke title holders were however a different side after the break, their comeback aided by the loss of Borgen, Rovers’ key decision maker, early in the second half to injury.

Brakpan’s scrum also began to gain the ascendancy, especially on the tighthead side where veteran Jaco Koen gave replacement Zardu Faul a working over.

Rovers however withstood the pressure while in Guy Ranger they had a capable lieutenant to take over from Borgen. Ranger kicked a penalty on the hour mark to make it 16-3 before right wing Gareth McRae scored a long-range intercept with ten minutes to go, just when it seemed Brakpan were certain of scoring a try of their own.

Ranger’s conversion made it 23-3 but if Rovers thought Brakpan were going to go quietly into the night, they were mistaken. Replacement Stephan Killian pulled a try back to make it 23-10 before Slabbert touched down after the hooter to give the final scoreline some more respectability.

Other Results

SK Walmers (47) 80 Despatch (0) 0
Bridgton (15) 27 Nelspruit (15) 21

BOWL (third round):
Nova Wesbank (19) 34 Barbarians (12) 22
Eersterust (0) 7 Gardens (15) 29

FRIENDLIES:

Welkom (5) 25 Raiders (6) 30
UJ (17) 38 Roses United (21) 45
Buffalo (14) 24 Kimberley Police (10) 10
CUT Ixias (7) 12 Tukkies (7) 31

- ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY UNION